Hi, again!
For those who are interested, there’s a fascinating discussion of the Libertine Hero up on History Hoydens, courtesy of one of my favorite authors, Tracy Grant. Since my own libertine hero made his way into print last year (Lord Vaughn in Crimson Rose), this is a topic particularly dear to my heart. I had a go at sharing my thoughts on this in the comments section, and I’m curious to hear yours, either here or there.
If you scroll down a wee bit on the same page, I posted on the real life antecedents of flowery spies earlier this month.
While I’m at it, tomorrow morning, you’ll find a post from me on Access Romance about one of my favorite– and most controversial– historical romances: Georgette Heyer’s A Civil Contract.
The things I do to avoid working on Book VI!
Hi, all!
Sorry for the long disappearance. August, you know. Now that the air is crisping up (and I’m properly caffeinated with pumpkin spice lattes) you should be hearing more from me. There’ll be real updates coming soon (outtakes from Crimson Rose and a new contest), but in the meantime, I’ve had many queries as to how Charlotte fits into the Pink Carnation schema.
So without further ado….
A Quick Recap of Who’s Who
In Which We Briefly Recall Who is Related to Whom
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation:
Miss Amy Balcourt—first cousin of the Pink Carnation
Lord Richard Selwick—the masked man known as the Purple Gentian
The Masque of the Black Tulip:
Lady Henrietta Selwick—Richard’s younger sister
The Honorable Mr. Miles Dorrington—Richard’s best friend and War Office contact
The Deception of the Emerald Ring:
Miss Letty Alsworthy—younger sister of reigning beauty, Miss Mary Alsworthy
Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe—Richard’s second-in-command (and second best friend)
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose:
Miss Mary Alsworthy—once beloved of Geoff, older sister of Letty (see Emerald Ring)
Sebastian, Lord Vaughn—rake, rogue, sometime suitor of Henrietta
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine:
Lady Charlotte Lansdowne—Henrietta’s best friend (see Black Tulip)
Robert Lansdowne, Duke of Dovedale—Charlotte’s long-lost cousin
I hope this helps as a quick reference guide! Longer character recaps will shortly be making their way onto the site….
Happy September!
Check out the new and improved Diversions page with:
– links to family trees for the major family groupings (Selwick, Balcourt, Wooliston, Alsworthy, and all the modern Selwicks)
– a select bibliography for each of the six books so far (yep, including the one that isn’t quite written yet– I probably should get cracking on that)
– and, as an extra bonus, never before seen Outtakes from Emerald Ring. Crimson Rose outtakes will be coming soon….
Thanks so much to all for the wonderful Pink Carnation Companion suggestions!
I am happy to announce that Project Pink is up and underway. The Selwick, Balcourt, Alsworthy and Modern Selwick family trees are all completed and should be up on the website within the next couple of weeks, along with a Select Bibliography for the first six books (okay, so Book VI doesn’t quite exist yet, but why be picky?).
Next up– probably in September– will be a timeline of events from 1789 through 1804. With each new book, the timeline will be pushed forward. It just seemed to destroy the illusion to include events that haven’t “occured” yet.
Given my technical and artistic ineptitude, floorplans for the various residences described in the books may take a bit longer– but I’m working on it!
The Grand Plan, such as it is, is to extend all of these initial reference tools bit by bit. For example, while right now the family tree is just a tree, eventually you’ll be able to click on each character’s name to link to a full bio, or on any event on the timeline to link to a thumbnail summary of that historical moment.
If you have more ideas, please do keep them coming!
Once again, I come seeking advice. As the Pink Carnation series continues to grow, it becomes harder and harder to keep track of who’s related to whom, who’s doing what when, and who that villain was again. My publisher and I have been discussing putting together some sort of Pink Carnation companion, with the vague idea that it might include character sketches, timelines, and family trees.
What I’d love to know is– what would you like to know? What would be most helpful to you as a refresher when you’re picking up a new Pink book? What bits of information do you find yourself most in need of?
As a related question, if there were to be some sort of Pink Companion, what format should it be in? On the website? In a booklet? Downloadable as a PDF? Or just a timeline or a family tree at the front of each new book?
As you can see, I’m all over the place with this project and desperately seeking a sensible place to dig in. Any and all suggestions incredibly welcome!
Did you ever have those children’s books with illustrations of a beribboned girl opening a mailbox to find happy surprises within? They were always semi-Victorian in nature, sometimes with a few sheep grazing in the background. Well, I have no sheep; for ribbons, replace with sunglasses; and my mailbox is of the metal sort set into an apartment building wall, but I still received a lovely surprise in the mail today: a package of greeting cards from talented designer Hope Wallace. What I adore about her illustrations is that they combine eighteenth and nineteenth images with a twist– rather like the Pink books.
They were too pretty not to share, so here are a few of my favorites:
And, oh joy of my life, bookmarks:
Which do you like best?
Hi, all!
Break out your inner Gidget. This coming Sunday (July 20th) from eight o’clock until eleven o’clock Eastern time, Writerspace will be holding a virtual beach party with oodles of authors, all popping by to chat online and give away prizes. It would take way too long to list them all (for oodles, read upwards of a hundred), but among my favorites who’ll be showing up are Christina Dodd and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. For a full listing of authors and the books they’ll be giving away, click here.
I’ll be showing up on the later end (probably around ten o’clock Eastern time) and giving away a signed copy of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.
All in all, a good way to chase away those Sunday night blues!
Hi, all!
I hope everyone had a glorious 4th of July weekend, complete with barbecue, sparklers and all the trappings.
Two hundred years and an ocean away from July sunshine and backyard barbecues, it’s Christmas Eve in 1803, where Lady Charlotte Lansdowne shivers on the frost-bleached marble steps of Girdings House as an unexpected addition to the Christmas house party gallops down the frozen lane….
In other words, I’ve finally posted the long promised excerpt from The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. Voila the complete, the entire, the unabridged text of Chapter One. Happy reading!
Lo, the Great Amazon hath spoken.
According to amazon.com (which is usually pretty reliable when it comes to these things), the paperback version of The Seduction of the Crimson Rose will be available on January 6th, while the hardcover of The Temptation of the Night Jasmine will be released just two weeks later, on January 22nd.
So look for them both in stores (and me on tour) in January of 2009!
More updates soon….
Hi, all!
As part of an attempt to avoid dealing with several cranky camels in Book VI, I was rooting around in my Book V files looking for the deleted scene where Charlotte waxes nostalgic about her childhood parrot (as you can imagine, the parrot and the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale did not enjoy a harmonious relationship). Naturally, I didn’t find the parrot scene, but I did come upon another deleted snippet from The Temptation of the Night Jasmine that caught my fancy.
Often, in early chapters, I’ll catch my characters engaging in long passages of self-analysis, more fit for a psychoanalyst’s couch than for moving the plot forward. (This, of course, occurs right after they engage in gratuitous antics with unnecessary small animals.) These passages are really more for my benefit than the other characters’, so they tend to get deleted pretty quickly. Nonetheless, these bouts of introspection can be informative, and I was particularly struck by the following (deleted) exchange between Charlotte and Robert:
“You, cousin, are an Original.”
Charlotte looked tolerantly at him, as though he had just said something very silly. “Penelope is an Original. I’m simply a… sort of dilettante bluestocking.”
“A dilettante bluestocking?”
“I’m only a bluestocking when it suits me,” she explained. “I find it very hard to be serious for long periods of time; I like romantic novels; and I can’t find it in myself to eschew the comforts of pretty clothes or comfortable surroundings for a cause or an ideal.”
It’s not great dialogue, but it definitely says something about Charlotte….
